Contemporary Photography

Photographer #440: Claire Martin

Claire Martin, 1980, Australia, is a documentary photographer with a focus on marginalised communities. In 2007 and 2008 she concentrated on Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. Even though Vancouver is a city that was twice voted “the worlds most liveable”, the residents of this part live below the poverty line. The suburb has an estimated AIDS rate of 30% and the leading cause of death is overdose. In 2009 she visited Slab City where she focused on the permanent residents of this community in the Colorado desert. It “is a place for the broken and desperate and for the fierce defenders of freedom from tyranny.” In 2010 and 2011 she went to Haiti to document the aftermath of the earthquake. “Every spare piece of land has turned into a tent city and whole suburbs and major infrastructure lay demolished, essentially turning and entire city into a slum.” Claire has exhibited her work in solo shows in Australia and has been in various group exhibitions around the world. In 2010 she won the Magnum Foundation Inge Morath award for female photographers under the age of 30. She is a member of the prestigious Australian photo collective Oculi. The following images come from the series Petionville – Life in Haiti’s Tent Cities, Slab City and Downtown East Side.